Bombs and Broomsticks
by Sonicdale
Summary: Post-Hogwarts. Harry and Ron join forces with the twins to give the Death Eaters a surprise ... from above. No ship, just fun! At least 8 - 10 chapters planned.


**Disclaimer: **JKR owns this universe. I just play in it for no monetary gain. Please don't sue. I don't have any money anyway.

The day was perfect for flying, or so thought Arthur Weasley. He stepped from the designated Apparition point and moved towards his two twin sons. Fred and George Weasley were putting the finishing touches on a platform in front of a set of large, tall bleachers.

"Hiya, Dad," called Fred. "We're glad you made it."

Arthur smiled. "I wouldn't miss this for the world. Harry's been so secretive and you two have been even more intractable - my curiosity is about to explode."

George grinned back at his father. "Well, we hope we don't trouble the Misuse Office too much today," he said. "We're crossing some lines with our, ah, products, but I think you'll be happy."

Arthur looked back and forth at the twins. George had grown a short moustache and goatee, much to Molly's chagrin, but it did help in distinguishing between the two rascals. Fred's hair was long, pulled back into a ponytail like Bill's, and Arthur knew that his wife's fingers itched towards her wand every time she saw the two boys.

"Hair," he muttered. "Who would have thought that it would be hair that would make it easier to know who was whom?"

"Eh? Wassat, Dad?" George asked. He had finished levitating a large banner and attaching ends to the poles on the platform. "W3 Expo" was emblazoned in large, gold lettering. The letters seemed to glow, sparkling in the sunlight.

"Oh, nothing," Arthur said. "Where's Ron and Harry?" He looked around the open field surrounding the bleachers. The twins had rented an unused moor to the north of Ottery St. Catchpole, hoping for the remoteness and quiet for their demonstrations for the day.

George motioned off behind him. There was a squat, long tent situated behind the platform, a few flags and a windsock fluttering in the early morning breeze. "They're in the equipment tent, making some last minute adjustments," he said casually. "We've had some trouble with some timing and after Lee got hurt last week we wanted to make sure nothing went wrong today."

Arthur frowned. "About that," he said, seriously. "I know you boys are getting involved more in the war now, but…"

Fred interrupted the byplay. "Dad, we've stood by making pranks since we got of school," he said. "It's about time we did something to even up the good side."

Arthur stared at his boys. _When nineteen-year-olds needed to be so serious_, he thought to himself. Sighing in resignation, he gave the two a half-smile and reached for a program from the stack in Fred's hands.

Making his way over to the first row of seats, he found an open spot among the few Ministry officials already there and sat. Glancing at the cover of the program, he saw the twins' logo: A large, gold 'W3' on a starburst. What really caught his attention, though, was the name under the logo. It wasn't the regular "Weasley Wizarding Wheezes" that he was accustomed to. It had one minor change.

In block letters, the program read "Weasley Wizarding Weapons."

As more Ministry officials and guests began to seat themselves on the bleachers, Harry Potter watched from an open seam in the equipment tent. He scanned the crowd, noticing several people he recognized. The Aurors were there in force. Kingsley Shackbolt was seated among a dozen or so blue-robed Aurors. Harry could also see a pink-haired Auror among the crowd standing next to Remus Lupin.

"Hey, Ron," he said. "Tonks is here! And I think I see Remus, too."

Harry heard a grunt from behind him and turned to look. Ron Weasley was carrying a large trunk with several warning labels on the side.

"When you're done ogling the crowd, I could use your help loading the Actuators," Ron said. "I don't want to blow myself up without company."

Harry smirked. Ron was always nervous around explosives, and the last few months had proved especially trying for the tall redhead. Developing and modifying equipment for the twins had been Harry's first job after graduation. Despite working with the Order and fighting Voldemort's minions for almost 10 months straight, he and Ron had not worried about their current jobs. Harry knew it was only temporary - at least until Riddle was dead and making daisies grow. It was why he took this job, as a means to an end.

Harry helped Ron set the trunk on a sturdy table and unlatched the clasps. Working slowly and methodically, the two young men's hands handled the objects with deliberate care.

Fred looked out over the crowd. The bleachers were nearly full, and the last stragglers had seated themselves. Stepping up to the lectern, he cast a Sonorus Charm and began to speak.

"Welcome!" he said with a cheerful wave. "On behalf of my brother and me, we welcome you all to the first Weasley Wizarding Weapons Expo!"

There was a brief set of fireworks that exploded above the platform as George waved his wand briefly. The crowd, not really expecting such pyrotechnics, jumped.

Fred continued. "My brother and I have decided to close down our joke shops in Diagon Alley and Hogsmeade for a brief time as we are moving on to why you are all here today." He nodded to the Auror section and to the Ministry's military officials. "We hope to show you some things today that will help in the current struggle."

George stepped up next to him and cast his own Sonorus. "We have spent a great deal of time studying the military histories of the countries of the world, both Muggle and Magical. We've found a certain, er.. shall we say lacking?"

"Deficiency?" Fred said.

"Defect-"

"Inadequacy-"

"Disadvantage-"

"Old-fashioned-"

"Dearth of ideas?"

Fred clapped his twin on the shoulder. "Ah, that's the ticket. A dearth of ideas in the Wizarding world when it comes to weaponry," he said smiling. "To some wizards, this-" he held up his wand "-is the only weapon worth using. We beg to differ."

George grinned. "We've set up a small mannequin in the field behind us that is of the common, store-window variety."

Fred waved to the crowd. "We've invited a couple of Auror acquaintances of ours to volunteer for a small demonstration." He smiled broadly as a pink-haired figure and a tall, bald man made their way down to the bottom of the bleachers.

"Miss Tonks of the Ministry's Third Auror Brigade and Captain Kingsley Shackbolt of the First Brigade have graciously agreed to help us," Fred continued. "Mr. Shackbolt, Miss Tonks. If you please."

The twin motioned the two forward to the platform and the two Aurors quietly took spots to the right of the lectern.

George turned to the crowd after shaking both their hands. "We've asked these two to use one spell each against the dummy we've entitled Bob," he said. "Bob is 100 yards from this platform and he is 5 feet tall. Not a tough shot, eh?"

Shackbolt grinned and Tonks' hair whirled through a dozen different colors. The two pulled their wands, turned and fired off spells almost simultaneously. Tonks' Bludgeoning charm slammed into Bob's stomach while Shackbolt's Cutting Charm severed Bob's head. Light applause wafted down from the bleachers.

The two Aurors looked pleased with themselves. George cast a few charms at Bob as Fred stepped forward to the lectern.

"My brother just fixed Bob and cast a few standard detection wards around him. Spells or magic usually trip wards if they get too close. But we have other ideas about that," Fred said with a smirk. "We at Weasley Wizarding Weapons have decided that spells are great, but can be somewhat … limited at times." Fred pulled a small headset from his pocket and placed it behind his left ear. Adjusting the small microphone, he spoke a few words into it.

A high pitched whistling sound came blasting from the sky and slammed into the ground at Bob's feet. The explosion, while still 100 yards away, was significant. The spectators in the stands saw the resulting fireball and debris expand. There was some muted noise, but the shockwave did not come close to the crowd because of some well-placed spells. There were gasps, exclamations and a general uproar as the crowd came to their feet.

George was calling for their attention. "Ladies and gentlemen, please!" he said, straining to be heard. "You are in no danger at this distance."

Fred ushered Tonks and Shackbolt back to the bleachers and then made his way back to the platform. He walked to the small table to the side of the platform and called to the crowd. "If you please direct your attention to this display, we will explain how we destroyed Bob without anyone casting spells or even waving our wands." He turned to the table, and with a flourish of a stage magician, whisked away the linen sheet covering a long, bulky object. When the crowd got a good glimpse at what was on the table, the first few rows of spectators began to edge away from it.

"That's a bomb!" said a wizard in the front row. "One of those Muggle bombs!"

"You are correct, sir," Fred said with a small bow. "This is a R5-23 Steel Munition made for and used by our own Muggle RAF. Muggles use their airplanes to drop these 1,000 pound monsters on targets. We've only modified them a bit - this one is mockup. For demonstration only."

"But how did you drop one through the wards?" asked the same wizard. The crowd was buzzing with mutters and whispers. Fred glanced back at George who also was now sporting one of the small headsets. George softly spoke into his, and shortly after two red blurs blasted by the bleachers at high speed. The resulting gasp from the crowd as the two figures looped their way back down to earth was instant.

"That's Harry Potter!" said a voice from the crowd. Harry and Ron landed their brooms with ease next to the platform. They were wearing helmets, flying gloves and red robes with a W3 logo on the left breast. Harry dismounted from his broom and stepped up to the platform, removing his helmet. George introduced him.

"Without any further ado, I present our partner and part owner in W3, and president of our Flight Division, Harry Potter."

The crowd burst into applause. Harry noted that it was mainly coming from the Auror section, with the Order members leading the cheers. Remus Lupin was most enthusiastic from the front row.

Harry waved until the crowd settled down. "I know most of you have seen me on my Firebolt," he said to some members of the crowd smiling widely. The last Death Eater attack in Hogsmeade at the end of Harry's seventh year was turned about quickly by Harry's leading the Gryffindor Quidditch team in an aerial attack that either disabled or drove off all the masked idiots. It was still talked about, mainly by the Daily Prophet, as "Harry's Storm."

Harry grimaced a bit from the memory, but held his broom up for all to see. "This is our most current broom, new to W3, the Ripfire Mk2. The newest entry into the market of combat brooms."

He heard a few wizards mutter an incredulous "Combat brooms?"

Harry continued. "While I loved my Firebolt, the Ripfire has outstripped it in several ways," he said. "Let me show you."

Harry donned his helmet and hopped back onto the broom. Shooting into the air, he made a few loops around the bleachers before beginning a series of dips and dives. George picked up the narration as Harry gave the Ripfire a total workout in front of the crowd.

George spoke to Harry through his headset and Harry pulled out of a steep dive and began a series of herky-jerky twists and turns. "The Ripfire's got twice the amount of stability, is at least 50 mph faster than most racing brooms," George said with all the aplomb of a salesman."It has two Series Three Braking Charms - with a new W3 feature, an InstaStop Emergency Brake that can stop a broom from 150 mph to 0 in 2 seconds and in 5 yards."

Harry could see the crowd craning their necks to see him. He grinned, punched the speed up on the Ripfire, and aimed straight for a certain spot in front the bleachers. As he neared the platform he triggered the emergency brake. He felt the charms kick in as the broom screeched to a stop just a mere foot from Remus Lupin's head. The werewolf-professor, to his credit, didn't flinch, but Harry noted the large beads of sweat on the man's brow and his normal coloring had dropped a couple shades of white.

"Er, Harry, ah, thanks for proving my heart still can do flips in my chest," Remus said.

Harry's grin threatened to split his face. He hopped off the Ripfire and waved his wand over it. The broom began to float above the crowd. George continued his sales pitch as Harry guided the broom over the oogling crowd. "While such a stopping spell might appeal to the Quidditch fans," - some wizards in the crowd chuckled - "This broom isn't for games. It has a Shield Charm reserve that is currently classified, and I can tell you it can deflect or absorb at least three Cruciatus-level spells before collapsing. It also has four, count 'em, four Wand reservoirs for multiple spell casting in air to air combat."

More murmurs and loud whisperings broke out though the crowd. Harry took the moment to remove his helmet again.

Harry winked at Remus before speaking. "And, for those of you that have them, we've added Invisibility Cloak Clips. It will hold a cloak on the broom AND you in flight up to 80 miles per hour."

Ron strode forward and held out his broom in front of him. His broom was slightly different than Harrys - Ron's broom had a small metal attachment to the end of his broom and a few instruments clipped to the handle.

George continued. "Combat brooms aren't for just air to air attacks," he said. "The explosion you just saw was Ron's use of the Ripfire's high-altitude bombing capability. We're able to hit targets within a one-yard radius from 10,000 feet."

Several wizards jumped to their feet in the crowd and the murmur grew to a loud din. Shouts of "That's impossible!" and "You can what?" rang out. Fred and George waited a few moments before releasing a few extra fireworks to settle the crowd down.

Some of the wizards began to chuckle as the exploding balls of sparks formed into a giant set of lips with a finger shushing the crowd. The hubbub died down as Harry's Ripfire floated back to his hand. Ron levitated his broom up over his head for all to see.

Fred took over the sales pitch. "While the exact ceiling of the Ripfire is also classified, we have included a few extra features for extra high bombing runs. We have a charmed bombsight, built in oxygen and heating charms, and all are built into our new Flight Helmet."

Ron and Harry both held their helmets up for display. They were both silver, with a W3 logo spray painted on the top. Resembling a motorcycle helmet, there was a small eyepiece over the left eye and a retractable windscreen.

Not content any more to leave the two alone, several wizards stood and began to make their way down to the platform. Remus Lupin merely stood and clapped Harry on the shoulder.

"Nice broom," he said, casually. "Have fun making it?"

Harry was about to answer as Fred began to wrap up his sales pitch. "We're making the Ripfire available now to the Ministry of Magic and the Department of Defence. We'll also make it available on a limited basis - per review - to private companies and individuals."

The trickle of wizards from the stands became a flood. Harry and Ron were swamped by wizards and witches, all bombarding them with questions. The twins were instantly surrounded by several military and Auror officials.

Harry grinned at Ron and began answering the questions, glad that the press had been excluded from the demonstration that day.

"How fast does it go again?"

Harry fielded that one. "It goes about 40% faster than the current Firebolt. I'd say top speed, without loss of control is around 375 mph, weather permitting."

There were a few gasps at that, but the questions poured in.

"How do you stay on at that speed?"

"How often can you use the emergency brake?"

"Will there be a two-seater model?"

"What other weapons can be used?"

"How many bombs can you put on that?"

Harry and Ron answered all of their questions and more. Ron mentioned the extra cushioning charms and windshield spells that broke the air for the rider. Harry told a very anxious witch that the emergency brake could only be used about once every ten minutes, as the spell would burn out if used more than that, and that a two-seater model wasn't planned, as the Ripfire needed the agility a one wizard pilot would provide.

Ron snagged a stack of pamphlets from the table and began to pass them out to the crowd. "There is a very limited set of weapons that you can use on the Ripfire," he said in response to Tonks' question, "but we've included several Bludgeoning Hexes, fire spells, and a few magical missle spells Harry's developed."

Harry helped Ron with the pamphlets. "The maximum load the Ripfire can carry is 40 bomblets in its Acuator. The bomblets are really transfigured steel ball bearings from the R5-23 bombs we got from the RAF. They transfigure from the ball bearings in mid-flight back to the bombs."

"Won't that set off the wards if it got too close to a magical target?" asked an Auror.

Harry nodded. "It would if the bomb transfigured back in the wards. But depending on the ward, you can adjust the transfiguration altitude from 5 meters from the Ripfire. The standard Class Two wards we all learned at Hogwarts don't detect muggle objects, even something as mundane as a steel bomb. Class Two wards only detects magical items or persons. Since the bomb has no trace magic by the time it impacts the target, it won't trip the ward."

The Auror nodded with a half-grin. "Hm… There's more to that than you're saying, but never mind. I'd say you've got a Stealth Broom, there, right?"

Ron plucked at his robes. "The broom and our flight robes are covered in a energy repelling charm. Handy in a dogfight, and it won't show up on Muggle maydar," he said.

"Radar," Harry whispered to him." Ron corrected himself quickly and began answering questions from another set of wizards as Arthur Weasley finally made his way to Harry.

"Hello, Mr. Weasley," Harry said. "Did you like our demonstration?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow. "Just one question. How did Lee get hurt last week?"

Harry frowned a bit. "Oh, he and Fred were goofing a bit on some test brooms and broke an Actuator."

Arthur's eyes went wide and Remus pointed to Ron's broom. "You mean where the bombs are?"

Harry glanced at the broom and nodded. "Right in one. It let all the bombs loose and the explosion threw Lee off his broom. He only sprained his shoulder and got some scrapes - Fred was able to stop most of his decent with a levitation charm. But after that we put some unbreakable charms on the Actuator itself so that wouldn't happen again. That and we only load as many bombs we need for that mission."

Harry grinned. "Forty at a time seems like overkill, doesn't it?"

Remus began to chuckle as Arthur shook his head in exasperation. "George said you'd be crossing the line with some of these products," he said waving his hand at the Ripfire. "You didn't say you'd be violating nearly every Ministry regulation regarding Muggle items. And I'd shudder to think if You-Know-Who acquired a few."

Harry's eyes narrowed. "That's why we're doing it Mr. Weasley. There's no telling when the next Death Nibbler attack will come, and what they're going to bring. This way we're trying to stay one step ahead of the curve."

Remus looked at the serious expression on Harry's face, and it sobered him. "What gave you this idea, Harry?" the werewolf asked.

Harry's eyes glanced up at the brilliant blue skies before answering. Both Arthur and Remus saw it, the longing, the pure delight of the young man's love of flying. "It was the Hogsmeade attack. We did well, and it got me thinking. I've seen some Muggle films that had some dog fighting and air to ground attacks, so when the twins asked for my help, well, it wasn't hard to get them to make a broom."

Arthur harrumphed. "Well, as long as you don't sell this to a Death Eater, I'd say we've got one up on Riddle."

Harry's green eyes changed only slightly. It retained the intensity of before, but Arthur could have sworn they had increased in brilliance. "It's just one of a few tricks up our sleeve, Mr. Weasley. Just one. We're stacking the deck for this war," Harry said.

George and Fred had walked up behind their father. Hearing Harry's last statement, Fred spoke.

"He's right, Dad."

"We've got some nice presents for Riddle and his cronies," George said.

It was then that Arthur saw The Gleam. The Gleam of mischief in the twins' eyes, the gleam that, as they were growing up meant that a particularly nasty prank was about to be sprung. It was the gleam that made him usually vacate the house to his shed or leave for work early.

He was startled to see that it was the same gleam in Harry's eyes.

_Riddle won't know what hit him_, Arthur thought to himself.

_**A/N: W3. I am not sure if this was a brainchild of my own, or if I saw it in another fic ... the twins' comments about weapons will be definitely expounded upon. This idea really started during a conversation between Crys and I about the broom capabilities during a duel. Keeping both hands on your broom in a dogfight would be very important - high speeds and all that. And I'd see Seekers being the best dogfighters, with Chasers being right behind them. Stay tuned for more!**_


End file.
